Dummer Probate Material 1541-60

Dummer church

Ten wills and seven inventories survive for this period, all held in the Hampshire Record Office. The wishes expressed by many testators for their souls accord with the changing beliefs or laws of the time, either Catholic or Protestant. The wills of the 1540s bequeathed their souls to Almighty God, to Our Lady Saint Mary and to all the Blessed Company in Heaven and also the suffrage of Holy Church reflecting Catholic beliefs. Those dated 1550 and 1552 fell during Edward’s Protestant reign and omitted mention of Our Lady Saint Mary. The wills written during the reign of Philip and Mary expressed Catholic beliefs again and listed all the territories over which the joint monarchy reigned.

These transcriptions have been made from copies of original probate documents supplied by Hampshire Record Office and The National Archives. Words and place names have been modernized and punctuation added to make reading easier but names have been transcribed as written. Words in italics indicate omissions in the original document which have been added to make sense of the text. Words in square brackets indicate that they have been transcribed as seen but where the meaning is unclear.

Links to the transcriptions are below. The wills of Dummer rectors are published in a separate section of Explore.

A glossary is attached of unusual words.